14 May 2019 App Development
A new app launched by Facebook named Study will allow users to sell the data on how they use competitors app. Despite gleaning on users data and generating an enormous amount of revenue per individual click, the voracious data sucker is willing to pay for some of the valuable information about the users that are missing.
What will they gather?
According to the company, the Study will collect information like the user's app and individual activity/function names of their features, time spent using them, the user's country location, device type, and network name. However, it claims that it won't collect information like usernames and passwords or some specific content like messages and photo.
“We believe this work is important to help us improve our products for the people who use Facebook,” Facebook said in a post announcing the launch of Study. “We also know that this kind of a research must be clear about what people are signing up for, how their information will be collected and used, and how to opt out of the research at any time.”
How to take part in this 'research'?
The company said it will run ads to promote people to participate in this 'market research program'. Interested users will then be required to register for Study, and only those who are selected will be able to download the app via the Google play store. However, Facebook has not revealed anything about the app for Apple users since similar apps launched by Facebook on the previous occasion were denied by Apple citing the use of excessive data.
Only the users aged between 18 and above will be eligible to participate in the Study's data collection project. Their age verification will be done referencing to users Date of Birth on Facebook. Some sources claim that the Study app will be available in the US and India only. Additionally, users must have a PayPal account where Facebook says will deposit the compensation amount.
How much will they pay?
The company has not revealed the amount of compensation but says that all the participants will be compensated. However, there are some rumours that the pay will start at $20.
The 'research project' of Facebook has been scrutinized by many people across the globe. Some claims that it will make Facebook more powerful and cripple the competitor's ability to compete against them in the world of Free market. However, others welcome this move by Facebook citing that the instructions and the data that will be collected are very lucid and the users will get something out of it.
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